THE PIG INDUSTRY.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLII, Issue 1742, 18 February 1921, Page 5

THE PIG INDUSTRY.

AND THE CO-OPERATIVE BACON COMPANY. A meeting of dairy factory representatives, the outcome of a recent meeting at Rongotea, which discussed the present position in regard to the pig industry, was held in the A. and P. Association's hall yesterday. Mr H. J. Lancaster presided, and the principal speakers were Messrs S. C. Baron, general manager of the New Zealand Co-operative Meat Packing and Bacon Co., and Mr H. D. Forsyth, a director of the company. Mr Baron gave an address along similar lines to that which he gave at Rongotea.

Mr Forsyth came straight to business, telling those present that they were out to raise more capital for the company they represented. He pointed out that the time had arrived when the banks were refusing to carry the loads they had been asked to carry in the past, and the company now had to approach the dairy companies and the producers themselves to obtain the money necessary to develop and carry on. the business. He mentioned that he and Mr Baron had met the directors of four dairy companies in Taranaki recently and had received promises to take up shares to the extent of £6BOO, conditionally upon the Wellington and Auckland districts contributing .in a similar way. He mentioned that the amount required was at least £30,000, which represented Id per lb on the quantity of pork dealt with annually by the company. He contended that the bacon industry should be carried on in a big way by the farmers themselves and the way to do this was to subscribe to the company.

In reply to a large number of questions, Mr Baron said it was not a fact that the company had ceased to buy pigs for a period of about a mouth. Buying had only stopped for a week or a fortnight at different times. The value of shares was £1 each and the minimum for any dairy company to hold was one for each ton of cheese produced and one for every two tons of butter. The minimum for an individual purchaser was 20 shares; The value of the company to ♦he producer was £40,000 or £50,000 annually. According to the articles of association a quarter of the shares could be called up every three months so that it would take a year to call up the full value of the shares. The shareholders of the old company, which was bought out by the new company, still owned £76,000 worth of shares, which were given preference. These shareholders could only be paid up to eight per cent, whereas the producer shareholder received his dividend plus bonus. Thus in, 1917, the bonus and dividend paid to the farmer on capital invested amounted to 18 per cent., whereas the shareholders of the old company received only six per cent. The company could not pay a further dividend after the bonus had been paid. In the event of a dairy company taking up shares, private shareholders who had shares in the dairy company could have their shares transferred to the bacon company. Calls were made on all shareholders at the same time, and if the shareholders did not receive their notices, it would only be due to clerical error.